The Bugatti approach to data protection and SC Magazine

Safetica 5  is a proud finalist in SC Magazine’s Reader’s Choice Award for the Data Loss Prevention category. Yes indeed, we made it through the product testing, evaluation, first cut, and then to the finalist stage. We take this as an achievement and as an industry mark of approval. And now that SC Magazine has announced the final winners for its US awards contest, we can take a deep breath and get back to work – helping companies protect their sensitive data.

The winner of the DLP award was … someone else. And, without being a sore loser or a tiny bit jealous, the winner was a company we had earlier identified in our own industry research as having one of the most comprehensive, complex, and expensive DLP solutions on the market. One could say that this DLP solution offered the Bugatti approach to data protection.

The Bugatti Veyron, for all non-gear freaks, is the ultimate high performance production car. Street legal, but with a top speed of 408.47 km/h, the Bugatti has won wave reviews across the board. Its 8.0-litre, quad-turbocharged, W16 cylinder engine is a feat of high-class engineering. And yes, it has won awards, taking home Top Gear’s Best Car Driven All Year award in 2005 and the Super Sport variant enthroned as Car of the Decade (2000–2009).

Bugatti may be owned by the Peoples Automaker (Volkswagen) but the car is really not designed for the masses. It just is not going to fit a family unit’s need to safely carry two kids, their bikes, and the dog on a long vacation. And with a base price of €1,225,000, it is substantially above most family budgets.

So what does this have to do with data protection? More than you would think at first.
As mentioned, the winner of the SC Magazine DLP award was a solution we had previously identified as one of the most complex and expensive solutions on the market. Focused on network protection and sensitive data discovery, this DLP solution is designed for making large companies meet compliance requirements. Like the Bugatti’s retractable spoilers and special carbon-fiber reinforced brakes, some features are technologically wonderful, but might not be needed for the small and medium-sized firm.

When it comes to data protection, corporate buyers need to beware of “car lust”, that nearly insatiable desire for the best of performance and engineering. Instead they need to take a close look at the total costs of implementing and administering a DLP solution and contrast that with the individual needs and budget of their organization. That is why we wrote the comparative Barriers to Entry report for 10 DLP solutions. To get your copy of this report, just send me a note.

Because for both cars and DLP, the best solution fits the needs of the journey.